MOOSIC — Both Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Lehigh Valley came up with big extra-base hits on Monday night, as half of each team’s hit total went for at least two bases.

Unfortunately for the RailRiders, it was Lehigh Valley that came up with the biggest one.

Making his return to PNC Field, Hazleton native Russ Canzler blasted the eventual game-winning home run in the seventh inning and the IronPigs belted out 14 hits and seven extra-base hits to defeat the RailRiders, 9-7, in front of a crowd of 7,507.

“They were just able to get the big knock when it mattered most,” RailRiders first baseman Scott Sizemore said. “I thought we swung the bats really well, had a lot of good (at-bats). We just came up a little short.”

RailRiders starting pitcher Bruce Billings had a rough go of it in the first inning. With one out, Leandro Castro laced a double down the left field line and Steve Susdorf followed with one of his own to get the IronPigs on the board.

After Canzler struck out swinging, Jim Murphy ripped Billings’ first pitch into center field for a single that scored Susdorf and gave Lehigh Valley a 2-0 lead.

The RailRiders got their bats going in the bottom of the second. Kyle Roller worked a four-pitch, one-out walk and John Ryan Murphy followed with a single, moving Roller to second.

Sizemore lined Brad Lincoln’s 0-2 delivery into right center field. Castro, the center fielder, couldn’t come up with the diving catch, the ball rolled all the way to the wall and Sizemore was on third with a two-run triple.

Two batters later, Taylor Dugas singled to left to score Sizemore, giving the RailRiders a 3-2 lead.

The IronPigs got that run back in the third when Cameron Perkins’ fly ball landed just inside the right field foul line and rolled into the corner. Canzler scored and Perkins ended up on third with a triple.

Lehigh Valley regained the lead in the fifth, courtesy of the long ball. On a 1-0 count, Castro drilled Billings’ delivery onto the left field walkway, giving the IronPigs a one-run lead. Two batters later, Murphy hit his 10th homer of the year, a towering fly ball to left-center field to give his team a 5-3 lead.

The RailRiders loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the inning but came up empty-handed when Roller’s line drive was hit right at shortstop Edgar Duran, who was shifted just to the left of second base.

But they got even in the sixth. With one out, Sizemore hit a fly ball to Susdorf in right. Susdorf lost the ball in the lights, it dropped behind him and Sizemore was on third with his second stand-up triple of the night. Two batters later, Dugas ripped a line drive that just made it over the glove over Duran for an RBI-double to cut the deficit to one.

Jose Pirela came through with an RBI-single to center to tie the game, but was thrown out trying to advance to second to end the inning.

After Billings gave up back-to-back singles to start the seventh, Danny Burawa was called upon to try and stop Lehigh Valley’s threat. But on his first pitch of the night, Canzler blasted the go-ahead three-run homer into the IronPigs’ left field bullpen. It was Canzler’s first home run in an IronPigs’ uniform and gave them an 8-5 lead.

The home run also put an end to Billings’ pitching line, as he gave up 12 hits and seven runs over six innings of work.

“In our three innings that we scored our seven runs, we went back out, and we gave up five runs and that can’t happen,” RailRiders manager Dave Miley said. “We’re trying to battle back and take the lead. We have to go out and put a zero up after we score (some) runs. I think that was the key to the game and why we lost.”

The RailRiders kept fighting, though. Zoilo Almonte laced a single to right with one out in the bottom half of the inning and two pitches later, Zelous Wheeler hit his seventh home run of the season, a two-run shot off of Hector Neris that just made it over the right center field wall and cut the RailRiders’ deficit to 8-7.

“It was a 2-0 pitch, fastball up and away,” Wheeler said. “I was just looking to be aggressive with that count and got a good pitch to hit.”

After Roller struck out for the inning’s second out, Murphy and Sizemore reached on back-to-back walks, bringing up Dean Anna. But his struggles at PNC Field continued, as he grounded out to second base to end the inning.

The IronPigs got an insurance run in the eighth on Susdorf’s RBI-single to right.

Almonte led off the bottom of the ninth with a walk but Wheeler grounded into a 1-4-3 double play to kill any momentum they had. Two pitches later, Roller grounded out to short to end the game.

Contact the writer: shennigan@timesshamrock.com

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